


Purely elemental

by CharnaBelle



Category: Original Work
Genre: And it all ended fluffily ever after, Crazy cat man, F/M, Personification of the elements, casual neck snapping, description of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 12:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10786449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharnaBelle/pseuds/CharnaBelle
Summary: Takumi, Keahi, Ila and Esen are the Elements of England, the balancing factor in their country. Used to threats and attempted attacks, they were completely unprepared for what was going to happen when they notice a black car watching Takumi's house. It quickly becomes a race against time, an element which sadly, none of them has any control over, to save one of their own.Short (ish) story with torture and fluff





	1. Chapter one

“Just because I didn’t accidentally burn down half of London, doesn’t mean that I am weak.” Esen snapped, Keahi spluttered.  
“It was an accident.” She spat back. “I didn’t know that was going to happen, I was just a kid.” She threw her hair back, red curls bouncing down her shoulders in a cloud of scarlet.  
“You still burnt down what, fifteen thousand houses down?”   
“Thirteen thousand, it wasn’t that bad!” Her voice was getting a little higher, her vocal chords tight.  
“That is such a difference.” Esen said with a roll of blue eyes. 

“Children, children…” Takumi said, his voice low and soft, soothing, like a running stream.  
Her dark eyes flashed dangerously, “anyways, Esen, I never said that you were weak, just that you were useless.”   
“Well that is even worse! I am not useless.” Esen said, his face flushed.  
“He fans your flames.” Ila said. “You need him Keahi.”   
“No, I need oxygen. And that sounded dirty.”   
“Right up my alley then.” Ila said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Keahi couldn’t help but snort in laughter. 

“Back me up on this Takumi.” Esen whined.   
“Keahi, it isn’t nice to call him useless. Esen, stop whining, it is unbecoming of a man of your stature.”   
“Takumi, that is hardly fair.” Esen said. “I am not whining, I am complaining.”  
“You whine a lot. Cry too.” Keahi said.   
“At least I don’t constantly lose my temper at the slightest provocation.” He shot back, Keahi stood up, her body was long and lithe, clearly muscled but she wasn’t so muscular that you would notice it with the slightest glance. She was the opposite of Esen, he was shorter than she was, a little wider too, and he lacked any sense of muscle.   
“I do not.” Her skin crackled and eyes flashed, hair hung heavy down her back in thick curls and tangles. 

“Esen, Keahi, sit down.” Ila snapped, both her and Takumi were much more patient than Esen and Keahi were, though she was more outspoken than Takumi was, she would shout if the situation called for it, and it wouldn’t be the first time that she hit the other two if the situation arose. Keahi dropped into her seat and crossed her arms across her chest, her lips drawn into a pout and with a flick of her head, she tossed her curls over her shoulder, a few loose curls were left hanging over her eyes. Esen let out a slow sigh before sitting on the floor and crossing his legs. 

“Now that you two have calmed down, can we get back to our previous conversation?” Takumi asked. He was sat on the sofa, his back as straight as a board and his legs crossed, a large ginger cat sat on his lap, curled up and he idly stroked it.   
“Which was what? I forgot.” Keahi said.  
“You all helping me move into my new place.” Ila said. “Remember? I got kicked out, landlord didn’t like my plants.”   
“You had a lot of plants.” Takumi said.   
“Well my new place has a garden, so that won’t be the issue. But I can’t carry my things upstairs, and since you and Takumi are strong, you can carry my furniture upstairs.”   
“Fine, but you owe me.” Keahi replied.

“What do you want?” Ila asked her. Ila was small and thin. Her skin was copper and eyes a warm brown that were wide and made people just want to give her a hug.   
“I don’t know.” Keahi was short tempered and temperamental, switching her mind at the drop of the hat, not that she ever wore one. “I will let you know what I want when I want it.” Ila had been expecting that.  
“What can I do for you two?” She asked, turning to Takumi and Esen.  
“Can you look after my cats?” Takumi asked. “I’m going away in a few weeks, and they don’t like the cat kennels.” Takumi was taller than Keahi was, the top of her head reaching the apex of his nose. He was more muscular than she was too. Compared to Ila’s dark skin, his was paper pale, except for the freckles on his nose and the slight silver to his platinum blonde hair. He owned four cats and the others were constantly annoyed with the hair that he shed whenever he came to their homes.   
“Fine with me.” Ila said. “Esen?” 

“Make me cookies?” He asked and she laughed.   
“Sure thing. Any particular type?”   
“Gluten free and with as much chocolate as you can get in there.” He said, Keahi rolled her eyes and Ila laughed.   
“Still on that kick then?” Takumi asked.   
“It’s better for you.”   
“I don’t care, chicken nuggets are life y’all.” He replied and the others couldn’t help but burst out in laughter. The soft-spoken Takumi would, on the very rare occasion, say something that made everyone laugh because it was so out of character. 

Keahi stretched her legs out and Ila swatted them away.   
“I think I should have gone to sleep early last night.” She said with a yawn, before slumping over to rest her head on Takumi, he was used to it though, everyone had used him as pillow at some point, he didn’t complain and his clothes were always soft, if not covered in cat hair from several different, different coloured cats.   
“What was it last night?” He asked her, the responsible one in the group, Ila regularly teased him and called him dad. “Work?”  
“No, I went clubbing.” He tipped her head forwards and she managed to catch herself before she fell off the sofa.  
“Well you brought this one on yourself.” He said as she glared, huffed and curled up at the other end of the sofa.

“I should get going.” Esen said, checking his watch and standing up, brushing imaginary lint off his immaculate skinny jeans. “It is meant to rain later and I don’t want to get caught out in it.” The other three all looked up at him. “What? I don’t want to get my new scarf wet.”   
“I should leave too, I really don’t want to get wet.” Keahi said.   
“So, that’s why you don’t have a love life.” Ila said.   
“Filthy, filthy mind.” Keahi said, reaching to grab her jacket. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”  
“Nah, it likes it there.” She said, sticking her tongue out. It wasn’t that Ila was childish in her nature, it was just that she did like to mess around from time to time, as her way of relaxing. 

Keahi and Esen walked to the end of the street together. Takumi’s street was filled with large houses, which was why they were often at his house, he had plenty of room for them to all want to lounge around in his living room, and plenty of space for them to all sit around the table in the kitchen when they decided to order take out. They bade each other goodbye before turning separate ways. Esen turned left and towards the centre of the large city, he would have to catch the tube from the nearest station, he lived in a high-rise block of apartments, all of his rooms were sleek and monochrome, everything had their own perfect little place. Keahi lived in a small poky little house about two miles away from Takumi’s, she lived the closest to him and the furthest away from the city centre. It was a small and quaint place that was filled with clutter, tucked away at the end of a street. 

Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out.   
That black car left when you did, stay safe. Takumi texted her. They had noticed the car when they headed back to his home for dinner, ordering pizza.   
Will do. Have you told Esen?   
Obviously. Keahi slid the phone back into her pocket and pulled her headphones out of her ears, wanting to be fully aware, and wishing that she had drove instead. 

She stumbled when she reached the street that she lived on, noting the large and black SUV just outside of her house. She pulled her phone out again.   
“Takumi?”  
“Is there one outside of your house too?”   
“Yes.”  
“Come back here, start walking, I’ll come out and pick you up.” This wouldn’t be the first time that someone had attempted to kidnap one of the four elements. It had happened to Esen the most, resulting in a lot of severe draughts. They were always on the cautious side nowadays, it hadn’t happened in a while, at least not in this country. Apparently, they still hadn’t found Hai, the Water element in America, after he disappeared. 

She swivelled around and headed back down the street, her pace picking up as she began to rush. She could be halfway back before Takumi got to her if she was quick enough. She jolted and looked back as she heard the sound of a car turning on, and her guess was right, it was the SUV. She began to walk even faster, taking an alley way short cut may allow her to lose them, but it may also allow for her to get cut off and for Takumi to be unable to find her.

She couldn’t fight back here, not properly, not in such a built-up area. She would cause some serious property damage if she attempted to burn them and missed, or seriously over did, like she had done plenty of times before, setting fire to this city (again) would induce relentless ribbing from the others. As the car sped up, she ran, she wasn’t going to make it to Takumi, the best that she could do was give him the opportunity to get her before they could drive off with her tied up in the boot of the car.

Hair whipping in the wind, she prepared herself to fight, flames licking at her finger tips, eyes darkening to the colour of obsidian and gleaming with a dangerous wickedness that made people fear her temper. She was three streets away from her house when she was grabbed from behind. With a growl, Keahi jerked herself free of the grip and turned around and hit them in the throat with the palm of her hand, crackles of fire burning their skin with a strong smell that she was all too used to. 

Keahi started running again, not staying to continue to fight and give them the chance to wrestle her into the car and into the unknown. Her heavy boots pounded along the path, as did the boots of the people chasing her. Her breath came out in jerky pants as her hair clung to the turn layer of sweat on her forehead. Someone’s out stretched fingers tried to grab her and brushed against her jacket before she was millimetres out of reach again.

And then she tripped and was sent crashing into the ground with a thud, the uneven paving stones catching her unawares and she was left sprawled across the floor. Her knee throbbed and the skin on her hands was bloodied. Someone grabbed the bag of her jacket and hauled her up. She screamed on instinct, but mid-afternoon in mid-week meant that no one was around to hear her. The grasped at her hair and yanked her head back.

Fire in her hand, she attempted to toss it back over her shoulder in an attempt to hit their car, it hit the floor instead, dissipating with a fizzle and crack. She growled and cursed before she felt a needle pierce the side of her throat. She gasped at the sudden, almost knifing, sensation as the needle sunk into her skin and suddenly she felt cold. Her eyes felt heavy and she could feel herself falling asleep. She continued to struggle, but she was so weak, her head lulling to the side before they let her fall and her knees cracked against the floor and she caught herself with her hands, pain jarring up her arms before she slumped onto her side. 

 

“When was the last time you spoke to her?” Esen demanded, his voice tinny through Takumi’s speaker.  
“Ten minutes ago, I can’t have missed her by much.” Takumi had stopped and got out of his car when he came across the scorch mark on the path, he drove the rest of the way to her house to see if she was in, and then back. Then he grabbed his phone from the glove box and conference called Esen and Ila.   
“Is anyone around?” Ila asked, her phone was sat in the passenger seat of her car as she made her way to Esen to pick him up, he didn’t drive.   
“No, the houses are all dark. Looks like they picked the perfect spot to do this.” 

“Well she wouldn’t go down without a fight.” Esen said. “Maybe check the next street, the one that she would have taken and ask if anyone who is there heard anything?”   
“Will do. How long will you be?”   
“Sorry Takumi, half an hour at a push.” Ila replied. “I could break a few laws, but I have no idea with what I could get away with.”   
“Don’t do that.” He said. “You may get into an accident, and then that that doubles the problem.”  
“Half an hour if we don’t hit traffic then.” Ila said as she pulled up next to Esen and snatched her phone up before setting it on his lap as soon as he was sat down. 

Takumi locked his car and made his way to the next street, turning his Bluetooth headset on so he could stick his phone in his suit jacket pocket again. He was dressed smartly, his shirt crisp and tucked into pressed black trousers, as he hadn’t been at work, he was dressed in his mode of casual, so he had left the waistcoat at home. He was halfway down the street when he noticed the metallic scent in the air, the tang of blood and flesh. The smell that he had begun to associate with Keahi from the fires and then many times that she had got into fights.

“You were right, something definitely happened on this street,” he said. “But all the houses are dark too. I don’t think anyone will have seen anything.”   
“Are there any street cameras?” Esen asked, Takumi nodded without thinking.   
“There’s one at the end of the street I’m on now. Think you can find something?” Essen pulled his own phone out and fired a text off to one of his friends. He was a freelance investigator and had plenty of contacts, including one who should be able to get the footage from the cameras for him. 

Takumi paced to the end of the street and then back.   
“Have you tried ringing her phone?” Ila said.   
“Her phone went dead while I was heading over to get her. Let me try again though, I didn’t find it on the street.” He unlocked his phone and pulled up her contact and dialled it, trying to add her to the conference call. It didn’t even ring. “Nothing. Either she’s somewhere without a signal, or they’ve turned it off.”   
“Bugger.” Esen said. “What’s the name of the street?”   
“Normanton avenue.” He replied, jogging over to the street sign so that he could read it, having left his glasses behind in his bedroom.  
“Alright…” Esen fell silent and Ila bit her lip. “I can have the footage from the camera in ten minutes.”   
“Good. Do you have someone who can trace her phone?”   
“I can do that myself.” 

 

“Alright, she was drugged and put in a van, three men attacked by the looks of it.” Esen said, watching the video clip that he had been emailed on his phone, he had sat cross legged on the floor by Takumi’s car, Ila leant against the car and Takumi paced. “Number plate is… I93 GR5Q. That is the exact same car from outside your place.”   
“And her phone?”   
“I’ll need Wi-Fi. Anyone know where Keahi keeps her spare key?” Ila nodded. Back in cars, they drove to the small home. 

Ila ran her fingers along the underside of the windowsill and unclipped a small box and opened it. She quickly unlocked the door and ushered the others in, Takumi flicking the light on as he passed the switch. Esen sat on the stairs and opened up his laptop, Takumi leant against the wall opposite him and Ila moved into the living room.

He hummed as he tapped as he tapped away at the keyboard.   
“It is offline, last known location put her at… Tottenham court road. They move fast.”  
“They had a head start on us. Nearly an hour. That is more than enough time for them to get there.” Ila pulled her phone out and checked the route there.   
“Looks like that is where we are heading then.” Takumi said. “We’ll take my car, yours should be safe enough here.” Ila nodded. Locking the door behind them, they piled into the large silver car that Takumi drove. Plenty of space for weaponry in there.


	2. Chapter two

Chapter two

When she came too she was in a jar. A giant jar. She knocked against the side of it.  
“Who’s there!” She shouted, the air felt just slightly too warm too her, humidity made her skin slick. “Show yourself!” she demanded. The air was too thick, too heavy. Looking up she realised that it was sealed above her, she would run out of oxygen, she wasn’t sure when, but it would happen, maybe in a few hours, maybe a little longer. However long it would take, it would not be long enough.

Keahi pressed her hands against the glass and gritted her teeth, by now the whole thing should have melted, she could barely get the glass to heat up. It was too thick to be broken and whatever they had done to her had left her helpless, nothing more than an ordinary human. She pounded on the glass with her fist, muttering curses in every language that she could remember. Her eyes glistened with fury.  
“I will make you pay for this!” She shrieked, voice cracking. She could see the shadow of someone out there, someone watching her. But they didn’t step any closer as she continued to fight to get out.

She rested her forehead against the glass. “When I get out of here, you will all burn.” Her voice was dark, hatred dripping from her tongue. “You will all be made to pay.” She jumped as she heard laughter, quiet through the glass, like she was underwater.   
“Will you? Will you really?” It was the first thing anyone had said to her. The voice was decidedly male, though lacked any sense of an accent, their voice smooth and missing inflection.  
“Who are you? And what do you want with me?” 

A man stepped forwards and she could finally see who had been watching her. He wasn’t pale, but he wasn’t tanned either. His hair was slowly greying, streaks of silver were speckled through his brunet hair. He had scars from his cheek that trailed down his neck until his shirt collar hid them from sight.  
“You blame me. Don’t you?” Keahi said upon noticing the scaring that was undoubtedly due to burning. “Because every fire that happens is not my fault! I don’t start them and I most certainly can’t end them.”   
“Oh, believe me, I know this.” He said.   
“Then what do you want?” She demanded.

“You don’t start fires. You don’t end them. But without you, there would be none.” He said.   
“Not true. Only in England.” Keahi spat back, and it was true, each country had an entity that was in control of earth, air, water and fire and each of those entities were able to wield theirs.   
“Well then, in England, without you there will be no power behind the fire. They will die, be snuffed out in an instance.” 

“When I die, another will be born. That is the way that it is. I die and another will rise from my ashes.” Despite her situation, Keahi couldn’t help but find her analogy funny.  
“My family died when you are the flame of England, your death will be fine for me, the next one can do as she please, I won’t care.”   
“So, this is about revenge then.” Keahi stepped away from the glass. “You are going to kill me.”  
“Well, yes. But not without a little bit of… fun, first.”

Keahi gulped, paling to the same colour as Takumi. Her heart in her stomach. Her throat dry. Her lungs constricted. 

 

“I said left!” Ila yelped as Takumi turned the wrong way.  
“Sorry, sorry.” He muttered, stress had made it almost impossible to concentrate as fear ate at him. Esen was in the back seat, laptop still on his legs and phone pressed to his ear.  
“Did you manage to locate the car?” He asked, chewing on his lip until he tasted copper. “Where? Right. Thank you, I owe you one.” 

“Where are we headed?” Ila asked, all ready to change the address that they were heading towards, Takumi pushing the speed limit as much as he could in the constantly congested capitals streets.   
“Bank.” He said.  
“What?”   
“They must have tossed her phone, or sent someone over there to force us to lose time. The car was seen by Monument station.”   
“Why Monument?” Takumi wondered aloud.   
“Maybe that’s where they are based?” Ila said, though it was clear that she doubted that idea herself.  
“It could be, but it is obvious. Why would they not switch cars if they didn’t want us running to where they were? Unless they killed her and dumped the body all ready. But wouldn’t we have felt something?” It was true, Ila was the youngest and the others had certainly felt it when her predecessor had been killed during the first world war.   
“What if it isn’t somewhere that is obvious?” Takumi said.  
“What are you thinking?” Esen asked, he had pulled a map of monument up on his screen. 

“Well, if they didn’t want to worry about us finding her, without there being too much effort on their part, as they don’t want to do anything that screams kidnapping plan. What hospitals are near to there?”  
“Uhh, Barts is. Walking distance I would say.” Ila said without checking, she had been a nurse until she had got bored with that job, and with all the death.  
“Alright, they would need to keep her sedated or heavily drugged.” Esen said.   
“Do they have basements that they use?”   
“Yes, the morgue is down there.”   
“Ok, so they aren’t there.” 

“They could be underground.” Esen said.   
“Wouldn’t someone notice them? Keahi doesn’t exactly blend in.”   
“There are abandoned stations all over the city.” The traffic was beginning to die down somewhat, the sky already darkening. “There may be one nearby.” He replied, already searching. “There is! King William street station. It’s only accessible through one building, King Regis house.”  
“Get the cameras there checked. If she shows up, we will have to break in.” Takumi said.

Takumi, the eldest of the four, was usually level head and a no-nonsense man, but it wouldn’t be the first time he committed a crime for one of the others, and it certainly would not be the last time. Last time it had happened was to break Ila out of an asylum when she was just thirteen. They had been unable to locate her until it was too late and everyone began to believe that she was crazy when in reality it was because of her very nature and she just needed someone to help her. The three of them had broken into the hospital and stolen her out of it one night. They had taken her to the middle of nowhere and had stayed there until she could control herself and was well again. 

 

She could help but let the screams be torn from her body, the shrieks echoing through the old room around her. Her back was bleeding heavily, countless lash marks littered her skin in a disgusting pattern of deep lines. Ragged breaths were almost silent compared to the screams. Everything hurt so much, pain radiated through her body to the point where she feared that she was going to throw up. 

And then they poured water over her back, and she was screaming again. The water felt like ice and fire all in one go. Water that came into contact with bare flesh that hadn’t been damaged made her skin feel like she had been tossed into an icy lake, but that was somewhat tolerable. It was the water that touched the open wounds that wasn’t. The water hissed and boiled, scalding her skin, after all, her body was only human. Her skin became covered in red patches of peeling skin. 

She felt weak, water dousing her blood was like water on a flame. It killed it, made it weak and splutter. Even though her eyes were closed, she knew that opening them would just show her a room that was spinning until vertigo got the better of her and she was violently sick everywhere. She just wanted it to stop. She would do anything to make it stop, even kill herself. It was just too much. 

She sobbed, gasping for air as the torrent of water across her skin relented and she found that she had been holding her breath. Her body shook as she cried, tears dripping down her face and onto the dusty floor. She leant her forehead against the filthy wall, covered with ceramic tiles, that she was facing. Her legs were chained apart and her hands chained above her head. 

The drugs in her body left her fighting to use her powers and made the fight fruitless.   
“Please.” Her voice shook and her legs shook until they gave out underneath her. She yelped as falling jerked at her arms. “Just kill me, please.” She could help but beg him and hope that the pain that she had already suffered was to his satisfaction. Stripped to her underwear and whipped with what felt like a metal tipped whip, and then doused with icy water, she just wanted it to end. She didn’t even think that she would be saved. She just wanted it to be over, the torture, the pain, her life.

“But where is the fun in that?” He asked her, his voice soft to her ears compared to her own shrieks. He was stood right behind her, hands on her hips, he pulled her to her feet against. “Hmmm.” He said, stepping back, eyes scanning her up and down.   
“Please.” Her throat hurt but that didn’t stop her begging.  
“But why would I do that, when I could get more fun out of you?” 

CRACK!

The sound of the whip echoed through the room and tore into her right thigh, immediately making her fall again as blood. The dusty floor below her was slick with her blood. Her own skin was stained rust red from it. Keahi chocked on her breath as the next lash landed just below the other. Instinctively she jerked forwards, striking her head against the wall, like she had done after many of the lashes on her back.

Pain sparked through her head, legs and back. Groaning, she bit back screams and curses in favour of panting for the breath that she seemed unable to get.

 

Esen strode down the street, trying to look confident, he kept looking up in search of traffic lights until he found one that should give them the right angle, then he pulled his phone out.   
“There are street cameras, can you get me the footage? Good. I need it as soon as possible.” He jogged back over to Takumi’s idling car. “He can get it for me.” He said, before sliding into the back of the car.

When Takumi brought the car, he was looking for two features, other than if it ran or not, and those where if it had tinted windows and how much stuff could he get into it. Stuff being guns and several knives. Ila had one of the guns in her hand, her long fingers wrapped around the grip as she turned it round.   
“How are we playing this?” She asked, looking up from the weapon.

“They hurt one of ours, we are going to hurt them.” Takumi said darkly. He had known Keahi for the longest with only a few hundred years between the two of them. They had been close for so long, he was close to losing his temper, an incredibly rare occasion that had only been seen by Ila once, and it had been terrifying. 

“Footage is in…” Esen said, trailing off as he raced through the footage to an approximate time that they thought they would have gone through the building. “Car pulls up and three people get out, one in a trench coat, they are practically carrying them in. They’re the right height to be Keahi, but I can’t say for definite.”   
“Right,” Takumi checked his watch with a flick of the wrist and a quick glance. “We go in. We come out with her.” He pulled a gun out of the box on the backseat next to Esen, he tucked it in his waistband before finding a knife.   
“Agreed.” Esen loaded the gun that he had chosen from the box before he hid it inside of his hoody. 

Takumi led the way across the street that was still filled with cars, though no one walked down the street, a miracle in London really. Ila picked the buildings lock after a quick glance backwards, then she pushed the door open with alarming ease.   
“Apparently, the only entrance is through a manhole.” Esen said. “Think you can get us through it Ila?”   
“Of course I can.” She said with a roll of her eyes. “Just point out where it is and I will get us down there.” Esen led the way, having used another contact to get information on the building.  
“Here.” He said, stopping just in front of it, and Ila went to work, leaving the other two to keep watch.

 

She was back in the jar. Back in a sealed environment that quickly became too hot and too humid. Keahi curled up on her left side, her back and right leg having received the brunt of the torture. She was too thirsty for tears now, her sobs were dry, her throat rough. She knew that if she continued to cry, she would suffocate even quicker. But she had given up with caring. She was in too much pain. That man had broken her will so quickly. 

There was blood all around her as she slowly bled out, with a shaking hand, she traced a pattern onto the glass with her own blood, swirls of it. Eyes half shut, eyelids heavy, she wrote onto the floor.  
Ila  
Esen  
Takumi… her eye lids fluttered and shut. 

When you die, apparently your life flashes before your eyes, and Keahi had most certainly lived a very long one. She saw when she first met Esen, he had doused her in water on instinct and she had punched him in the throat as pay back. They hadn’t spoken for sixty years after that, he stayed in contact with Takumi though. Up until everyone he knew had died, he ignored her. And then when he was alone too, he found both of them in the city. 

She saw when they finally found Ila, locked in a small room, barely large enough for the tiny girl. Takumi had scooped her up and Keahi had just ‘happened’ to set the whole place ablaze. It was the least that she could do for the patients that lived there, burn that monstrosity to ashes. She remembered sitting in an old house in the beautiful British countryside (it rained a lot), Ila sat on the floor, her tiny frame wrapped in a blanket as Keahi kept the fire burning three days in a row. Takumi relentlessly trying to help Ila, nursing her back to health. Esen was constantly sent out to buy supplies for them all. He hadn’t minded, Ila’s constant crying got on his nerves.

And then she saw Takumi. Amazing Takumi who had found her when she was six and was caught in the middle of a blaze that razed the majority of the London to the ground. He had found her as she curled up and screamed with all of her might, despite the thick smoke. He had taken her to safety and left her with the other elements from back then, Coral who was replaced with Esen and Aden who was replaced by Etta and then Ila. Coral had practically raised her and it had crushed her when she had died. 

With eyes closed, she knew that she would be able to see them again. And her parents. Her parents that she hadn’t seen in over four hundred years, her brother that she barely remembered, not that she could recall her parents much better than he. Were they really her family then? If she couldn’t remember them, could she say that they were her family? Or were they just strangers to her now, and was she to them? 

Her family was here, on earth, still living; Ila, Esen and Takumi were her family now. And she was sorry to lose them now, sorry that she wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye. Because Keahi was certain that this would be her end. She forced her eyes open.

Sorry.

She managed to scrawl one last word below their names, before her body gave up on her and she fell into unconsciousness, not even hearing her name be called.


	3. Chapter three

Takumi jumped down the shaft first, he landed on the ball of his feet, like a cat. He regained his balance in seconds and stepped out of the way just in time for Esen to jump down and land in a pile with a groan. Ila came down, while she wasn’t as graceful as Takumi and did wobble somewhat, she didn’t end up laying on the floor.   
“Now is not the time to be laying around.” Takumi said. “On your feet.” He scrambled back out and pulled his gun out, Takumi already has his in his hand. 

“This is the ticket hall.” Esen said. “They may be down on one of the platforms.” He led the way to the stairs. The entire place was thick with dust and dirt, the walls were cracked.   
“Anyone got a torch?” Ila asked.  
“This is why we need Keahi.” Esen said, using his phone torch.   
“She does tend to lighten things up.” Takumi mused. Esen shot him a sideways glance. 

Takumi was a private person, he kept his thoughts to himself. He spoke in half riddles. Getting him to admit anything was damn near impossible, to hear his speak fondly of a person was bizarre. Especially one of the other elements, it always seemed like they were friends, and that was it. His quiet phrase made Esen think that maybe there was something more between him and Keahi, or he could be reading too far into things. When he glanced over to Ila and arched an eyebrow, she just shrugged.

“They may be keeping her on the platforms. Down the stairs.” Esen said gesturing towards them with his phone. Takumi nodded and headed towards them. “I should go first. I have a light.” He said, grabbing Takumi’s arm before he could go down the stairs and hurt himself, he would be no use in a fight if he got himself badly hurt. Takumi nodded and let him pass, his gun aimed just above Esen’s shoulder in case anyone jumped out at them. 

Despite them trying to move silently, their footsteps echoed ever so slightly and before they reached the bottom, they saw shadows moving.   
“Who’s there!” Someone barked through the dark.  
“Where is our friend?” Esen demanded. “Tell us and we won’t open fire on you all.”   
“No.” There was flash of light, a bang and then a gurgle as they gasped for breath with a whole in their heart, the sound didn’t last very long.   
“Who’s next?” Takumi asked. The other shadow ran through the dark, only for Esen to shoot him in the side. 

“Left, or right?” Ila asked. Takumi held up his hand for silence and strained his ears, hoping to hear something.  
“Left.” He said after a moment, “I think I can hear something.” The other two nodded and Esen took the lead again, all of their ears ringing from the fired gun shots. As they made their way to the platform, Ila fired at someone but missed by millimetres, Takumi caught him with a bullet to the throat though and he dropped like a sack of flour. 

“Keahi!” Takumi’s voice caught in his throat and in an instant, he was sprinting down the disused platform.   
“Oh god.” Esen tasted bile in the back of his mouth as he ran too. Ila followed slower, taking care to make sure that the area was clear. Takumi thumped his fists against the glass.   
“How do we get her out?” Ila said. Esen was already looking around. “I could shatter the glass, but it will hurt her, and us potentially.”   
“That’s a last resort, they had to have got her in and out of there somehow.” Takumi said, teeth gritted in anger as he couldn’t help but stare at the battered body of Keahi.

“There seems to be some kind of mechanism on this thing.” Takumi said, finally look up from the unconscious woman and at the glass jar that held her.   
“Maybe that moves it.” Esen said, shining his light around. “Watch my back?” He made his way around the container to a makeshift work bench.

“Who are you?” Someone walked out onto the platform, guns were trained on him in an instance. “Ah, the Air, Ground and River of England. Come to retrieve your friend I take it?”   
“Release her.” Takumi growled, the air trembled around him, rife with fury as it cloaked him. The ground shook too, Ila held her hands parallel to it, barely holding back the tremors.   
“I suppose I should, shouldn’t I? It’s too late for her now though.”   
“No!” Takumi roared, head whipping back to Keahi, finally noticing that she wasn’t breathing. “Release her.” His gun followed the man as he strode to Esen and pulled down a lever, without a sound, the mechanism moved. 

It slid up until it touched the tunnels roof and Takumi could rush forwards, moving as soon as there was enough of a gap for him to fit through. He pulled her into his arms, her eyes closed, skin cold and clammy, blood slick. He pulled his jacket off and laid her on it. He heard a scuffle as Esen restrained the man who had released her, but he ignored it. He tilted her head backwards before bending over her and pressing his lips to hers, breathing into her lungs. Again, and again he did this, forcing air into her lungs until he felt dizzy and he tasted her blood on his lips. 

Tears streamed down his face, they blurred Ila’s eyes and trickled down Esen’s cheeks, they couldn’t lose her. And Takumi refused to let that happen. Bringing his hands to her chest, he began to do compressions.   
“Come on Keahi, you have to wake up.” He begged her. “Please.” He saw the writing on the floor and ignored it. It didn’t matter anymore, she wasn’t going, he was not going to lose her. He bent forwards and breathed for her twice. And then she convulsed. She spasmed below him, sucking in a slight breath. Takumi couldn’t help but cry out as she began to breath alone, though it was only shallowly.

Takumi slowly stood up and with a wave of his hand, the man had been tossed to the wall with a sickening crunch. He didn’t move again. Takumi’s pale grey eyes seemed clouded and darker as he breathed heavily. He was almost panting as he watched the now crumpled and broken form of the man lay on the floor, unmoving. 

“Ta…kumi?” They all turned their attention to Keahi, she had barely moved, only turning her head to look at him with unfocused eyes, filled with tears.   
“Keahi.” He was back at her side in an instance. “Don’t move, we’re getting you out of here.” He carefully slid an arm underneath her shoulders, high enough to avoid many of the lashes, and gently wrapped his jacket around her. She had begun to shiver. 

“We won’t be able to get her up the passageway.” Ila said. “We will need to find another way.”   
“They came through the service tunnels.” Keahi said, rested her head on Takumi’s upper arm, her eyes were closed again as twinges of pain radiated through her body.   
“Excellent. We can get out that way too.” Esen said, already looking at the maps that he had downloaded and stepping over the man’s body.   
“Go to sleep.” Takumi said to Keahi, “we’ll get you home.”   
“Thank you.” She slowly and softly said. 

Pain filled Keahi’s body as Takumi tried to lift her without causing any pain, she grasped onto the front of his shirt as he lifted her bridal style as she hissed in pain, she would have screamed if her throat wasn’t so hoarse. Takumi’s heart was wrenched at the sound of her as she whimpered with each step, no matter what he tried. 

 

It was an hour and a half later by the time he had got back to his home with the others in tow, Ila had driven so that he could continue to hold Keahi. She had fallen into a fitful sleep that she had woken from many times in blind panic. Each time he had tightened his grip on her and assured her that she was safe in a soft voice, whispering the words into her filthy hair until she slipped off the sleep again, only for him to have to repeat it, not too long afterwards. 

He carried her out of the car and laid her down on her left side in his spare room, as Ila carried her first aid kit in from the car. She had shooed him away as she began to diligently clean each wound, wincing and crying herself as Keahi couldn’t help but cry out and sob. She had attempted to push Ila away until Esen had grabbed her hands and held tightly to them until she had calmed down and Il had finished the thorough cleaning with witch hazel. As she began to stitch the deepest gashes, Keahi’s eyes rolled back and she, thankfully, passed out.

He left the spare room, unable to watch and headed into the bathroom. He snatched a wash cloth off the top of a tidy pile, sending the others onto the floor with a muffled phumf. He ran the tap until the hot water was scalding hot before he shoved the cloth under it and used it to vigorously wash off the blood that stained his lips and chin. Specks of it were ingrained into his white skin, staining it pink. It had got onto his shirt as well, but he didn’t care, he could replace that, Keahi could not be replaced. 

Takumi paced the hallways, chewing on his fingernails, a habit he had kicked a long time ago. His stomach was twisted into knots that left him close to throwing up, instead he chose to breathe deeply and carefully place one foot in front of the other as he paced. Keahi was his oldest friend, they had known each other for four hundred years- give or take. She knew him the best and he knew her the best. 

“She’ll be alright.” Ila said, finally leaving the room. She passed him and strode into the bathroom, Keahi’s blood thick on her hands.  
“Are you sure?” He demanded, following her and leaning against the bathroom doorframe.   
“She’s lost a lot of blood, she could probably do with a transfusion, but I can’t do that, she would have to go to the hospital. She will live without one though.” She grabbed the soap, leaving a bloody handprint in it as she began to scrub her skin raw.   
“But?”   
“But she will take a long time to heal, we’re looking at a month at least.” Takumi sighed. “You couldn’t have done anything to stop this from happening.”   
“I could have. We knew that something was going on and I let both her and Esen walk home alone, I put them at risk.”  
“You cannot know everything.” She said, her voice firm, leaving him no wiggle room in his argument.  
“But-”  
“No buts,” she interrupted, “go into that room and keep her company. Esen and I are going to grab my car and pick up clothes for her.” 

Takumi silently moved back into the spare room, shoeing out a black cat. Esen had been sat with Keahi, but upon seeing him, he went to wash up himself. While he had less blood on him that Ila did there was still enough of it to make both men uneasy. Keahi had been laid in the middle of the bed, still laying on her side, Ila had wrapped her torso in bandages and then loosely draped his jacket over her again. She still rested on her side, but her breathing was slightly deeper now. 

He sat on the bed at her side and stretched his long legs out, before reaching down and taking her hand in his. Her usual warm hand felt cold to the touch. He jumped up at the slightest touch and crossed the room to the large cupboard. He yanked the thickest blanket that he could find, a warm chocolate brown fluffy one. As gently as he could, trying his best not to hurt her, he covered her with that one too.  
“You have to be alright.” He whispered. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“I didn’t take you as the type to talk to sleeping people.” Her voice was muffled by the blanket, and her face being halfway into a fluffy pillow. It hurt for her to speak, her throat dry and hoarse from screaming and being unable to drink for several hours. Speaking hurt her, but it was worth it. She lazily opened one eye, and then closed it again. “Could you maybe, turn the light off?” He jumped out of the bed and switched it off.   
“Better?” He asked, switching on the bedside lamp so that it wasn’t entirely dark.   
“Thank you.” She said. 

Keahi tried to push herself to sit up, only to fall back into the bed with a gasp. Takumi sucked in a breath as he tried to move.  
“Please don’t do that.” He said quietly, hand on her shoulder. “You are hurt very badly, you lost a lot of blood.”   
“How badly?” She asked, trying to roll on to her back, only to whimper and roll back onto her side, her breath suddenly coming out harsh and fast.   
“You stopped breathing, you were technically dead for a while, not long though.” He said. “Stay still, I’m going to get you some water.” 

He left the room and headed to his kitchen, it was still a mess from the dinner that they had eaten as a group hours previously, he had started to wash up when Keahi called him, the sink was still filled with the dishwater, now cold and all the bubbles gone. A clean glass was found from the cupboard and he filled it with water from the filter that he kept on the kitchen table, he took both with him back upstairs. 

“You’ll have to sit up.” He said as he set the two items on the bedside table. Grabbing the pillow from the other side of the bed, he set the up against the headboard so that she could lean against them. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and gently pulled her up until she was sat against the pillows. Her eyes were clenched in pain and she was panting, sweat on her forehead. She tipped her head back as a tear ran down her cheek. “I’m sorry.”   
“It isn’t your fault.” She slowly said, opening her eyes again, the dark as the night eyes were swarming with tears. He held the glass out to her and she took it with shaking hands, slowly drinking it, having experiences what would happen if she drank it too quickly multiple times.

Once the glass was empty, he took it from her before she could twist around to set it down and tear her stitches. He sat on the edge of the bed, reaching forwards to gently move a clump of hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear, his fingers brushing against her skin in a gentle caress. Her own hand shot out and grabbed his, moving with the startling quickness that came from the pair of them spending hours sparring. She held his hand still, his thumb still against her cheek. He used his free hand to gently tilt her head up with two long fingers until their eyes were staring into each other’s. 

“Please don’t.” She said, tilted her head away from him and releasing his hand. “I don’t want to get hurt again today.”   
“I don’t want to hurt you Keahi.” He said, his voice little more than a whisper, soft to her ears, he looked down. “I will never hurt you, I can promise you that.”   
“No, you can’t.” Keahi replied. “You never can.”   
“I can try.” Takumi said. “Let me try.” Keahi was just about to speak when they heard the front door open and the pair jumped.

“We’re back!”   
“It’s just Esen and Ila.” He said. “They went to get you some clothes since they took yours.” Keahi managed to relax back into the pillows ever so slightly, but her eyes were bright with a febrile edge to them.   
“Right.” She looked uneasy, like she was fighting the urge to get up and run for it, not that she would have been able to get very far, she would collapse and if she didn’t, he would catch her.   
“Stay put?” He asked her, finally managing to tuck that pesky loose strand of hair behind her ear. She nodded.

Takumi jogged back down the stairs to where Esen and Ila waited in the hallway, a duffel bag hastily packed full of clothes. Esen held it out to him and he quickly shouldered it.   
“We’re driving back into the city to pick up our own things.” Ila said.   
“Good, I want you both to stay here for the night, at least.” Takumi said, the unelected leader of the four. “We don’t know who else may be out there.” Esen nodded before the duo left again. 

“Do you want a shower?” He asked Keahi, setting the bag at the end of the bed.   
“I don’t think I could stand for one.” She said. “And I can’t get the stitches wet for a while.” Takumi thought for a moment. And then he silently left again. Keahi used her left leg to drag the bag until it was within arm’s reach and she pulled it to her side. She found hastily folded clothes in there and a collection of underwear and odd socks, nearly all of her socks were off most of the time anyway. She pulled out a top, bright red as it was her favourite colour and soft leggings that she usually wore to the gym as they were comfortable. 

“Do you want me to carry you?” Takumi asked, coming back into the room. Keahi nodded. He lifted her, she clutched the bundle of clothes to her chest as he cradled her in his arms, gently as he could, almost as if she may break at the slightest misstep. He had found a small stool from the piano he kept in his study and sat it by the bath tub, he sat her down on it. He took the clothes from her arms and set them away from her so that they wouldn’t get wet. 

“May I?” He asked, his hand on the jacket. She nodded, a slight jerk of her head, already blushing. He gently unwrapped the jacket, undoing the one button that had been done up to keep it from falling off her. Goosebumps covered her skin, though she wasn’t sure what the cause was, from being in just her underwear, or being in her underwear with Takumi so close to her. He found a towel and wrapped it around her shoulders, covering her up again. He offered her a small smile, but she looked away. 

He stepped past her and unclipped the shower head and turned it on, letting the water get warm before beginning to wash her hair. As soon as the water hit her skin, her eyes flew open in a wild panic.   
“Stop!” She shrieked, trying to jump out of the seat and move. Takumi dropped the shower head and caught her around the shoulders. He moved in front of her and wrapped his arms around her. She shook and sobbed in his arms.  
“Shh, it’s alright.” He said into her hair. “It’s alright.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and held onto him as tightly as she could. 

“Keahi, it’s all going to be alright.” He said.  
“No it isn’t. It isn’t going to be alright.” She sobbed into his shirt. “It isn’t going to be alright.”  
“Yes it will. You are safe. You are safe here. I am not letting you go again.” He assured her. “I am not losing you anytime soon.”   
“Let me die.” She whispered, her voice hardly audible.   
“What! Keahi… No, don’t say that.” He said, holding her even tighter to him.   
“Everything hurts too much.” She said. “You should have left me dead.” 

“No I shouldn’t have. Keahi, we need you. I need you. You heard me before, I don’t know what I would do without you.”  
“You would be fine. You managed without me.”   
“Barely.” He tugged her back into the bedroom, the towel dropped to the ground but they ignored it. “Sit down.” She did, settling back into the nest of pillows and pulling the blanket back over her. 

“Keahi,” he paced back and forth, from her side, to the door, and back. “Keahi, we need you here. We all need you. Esen will never admit it, but he would be devastated if we were to lose you. He would fall apart. Ila would too, she loves you, you saved her life when she was a child and she thinks that she could never repay you for that, no matter what. She would be lost without you, you were practically her mother when she was young. You practically raised her.”   
“And you?”

“And me? Keahi, without you I would be besides myself with grief, I would know what to do without you.” He stopped stock still next to her before sitting next to her and taking his hands in his. “I would be lost and afraid, angry and hurt. It would be like having the most important thing to you ripped away. It would be like someone had ripped my powers away. I would be useless without you.” Keahi was at a loss for words. He took her face in one of his hands. 

“Keahi, if you don’t stop me, if you don’t tell me that I have no chance in hell with you, I am going to kiss you.” She stayed silent, instead she wrapped her spare arm around the back of her neck and dragged him down to her, kissing him before he could have a chance to kiss her. She wound her fingers into his hair and held him to her as tightly as she could, worming her other hand out of his grasp to wrap it around his waist. He broke the kiss after a moment, though it felt like it had gone on for much longer. 

“I am not going to hurt you. Not now, not ever.” He said. “I refuse to.”

She kissed him again, softly pressing her lips to his. She tasted like blood and tears, both were thick on her lips. She grasped onto him, refusing to let him go. She was still crying, the tears running off her skin. He pulled away and kissed her cheek, ignoring the taste of salt on her skin.   
“I am never going to leave you. They will have to drag me away from you before I will leave you.”   
“Good. Because if you hurt me, I will hurt you.” She said a pause.


	4. Chapter four

It was nearly dawn when Esen and Ila got back, they knocked on the front door so that they would hear them and then let themselves in using the spare key taken from Takumi.  
“Takumi! Keahi, we’re back.” Ila called, making sure that they were both aware of their entrance, everyone was on edge. They made their way upstairs, neither being careful so that they wouldn’t be unheard, making either of the other two jump would almost likely be an awful idea. 

As they reached the landing, Takumi stepped out of the spare room.   
“Is she alright?” Ila quietly asked. He shook his head.  
“I tried to help her wash and she started freaking out as soon as the water came into contact with her skin.” Takumi said.   
“I hate to think of what they may have done to her, but we may need to know to be able to offer her any help.” Ila replied.  
“Agreed.” Esen said. “But before that, we all need a good night’s sleep.” He had a packed rucksack on his back.  
“Yes, you can fight over who will take my bed and who will have to sleep on the sofa, I’m going to sleep with Keahi.” Ila arched an eyebrow. “In the same bed as her.” She didn’t change her expression. “I don’t want her to be alone alright?” She smirked.   
“Whatever you say.” Esen said, clapping his shoulder. “Though I have to ask. If you two get together, does that make her team mom, because you are most definitely team dad.” 

Takumi rolled his eyes before stepping back into the spare room.   
“Rock, paper, scissors for the room?” Ila asked and Esen nodded. Hands out they played. “Rock. Paper. Scissors.” Esen didn’t even get a chance to see who had won before Ila pushed him backwards and rushed into Takumi’s room, shutting the door in his face.  
“That’s cheating!” Esen said, knocking on the door, ignoring her laughter.   
“Good luck with the cats.” She called to him, cackling.

“What’s going on?” Keahi asked, propping herself up on her elbow with a wince as Takumi silently closed the door behind him. Her eyes were unfocused from the concussion she had developed from striking her head off the walls as she was whipped.   
“Just Esen and Ila.” He said, climbing back into the bed next to her. He had found one of his shirts for her to wear to bed so that it would be loose on her and not pull or put too much pressure on any one spot. While Keahi was tall, a little under five foot nine, Takumi was very tall, pushing six foot five, so the borrowed shirt met mid-thigh and was unfitted, like many of Keahi’s clothes and her now lost biker jacket that she was incredibly fond of. 

Takumi couldn’t help but love the way that she looked in his shirt, the pale blue made her skin look positively golden. He loved the way that it made her look soft and huggable. And he most certainly loved the fact that it was his shirt that she was wearing and not some other mans.  
“You should get some more sleep.” He said, laying on his side so that he could face her.   
“So should you. You look exhausted.” She brushed her fingers across his cheek.  
“Gee Keahi, you are such a flirt, saying just what every man just wants to hear.” He said and she smiled slightly, more than he had seen from her since retrieving her. He couldn’t blame her though. 

Takumi was unsure of if he would have been able to live what she had gone through, and he only knew what he could see. Keahi’s will to live seemed to have been just as damaged as her body had been, she wished that she had been left for dead back in that station. He inched closer to her and settled his hand onto her hip, he wasn’t letting her go anytime soon.

 

Ila woke up confused for a moment, as one did tend to be when waking up in a bed that was not one’s own and when you don’t usually have something to wake you up on a Saturday morning, but she did. A thumping at the door. She sat up, running a hand through her hair that hadn’t been brushed back and tied up before she went to bed and the tight kinky, curls were back in full force.   
“What?” She demanded, yanking the door open to see Esen, she had been expecting Takumi, and for something to be wrong.   
“Follow me.” He said. “Silently.” The pair crept down the hallway and Esen pushed open the spare bedroom door without as much of a whisper. 

Takumi had moved closer to Keahi in his sleep. Her head now rested against his collar bone, her hands trapped in between their body rested flat against his chest. He had wrapped and arm around her in a tight, protective embrace. If one of them moved, the other would too.   
“Aww.” Ila cooed. “I swear to god that if they are not together by now, I will do something.”   
“Do what?” Esen asked, closing the door again. The pair made their way downstairs.   
“I don’t know, get them both drunk?”   
“I get the feeling that neither of them will be drinking any time soon. And have you seen Keahi drink? She can drink all of under the table and then some.”  
“She just burns the alcohol off.” Ila said, Esen shot her a glare, though that just made her snicker. 

They helped themselves to breakfast, both finding cereal and milk to have. Once they had eaten, Ila found the cat food and made sure that they had all been fed, she sat on the floor next to them, gently running her fingers over their soft fur as they ate and purred. Esen quickly refilled their water bowl for them, jumping as one of them brushed against his leg meowing loudly. Ila couldn’t help but burst out in laughter before pressing a hand over her mouth and freezing. She didn’t hear anyone else moving in the house. Esen rolled his eyes at her.

“We should probably clean the kitchen.” Ila said, finally standing up again, brushing cat hair off her pyjamas. Orange hairs clung to the soft fabric.   
“Probably.” Esen echoed, looking around the kitchen. “If I wash up, will you wipe it up?” She nodded. “Let’s get started then. I doubt the other two will be waking up any time soon.” 

 

Takumi slowly opened his eyes, he was still exhausted, but needed to get up to feed the cats. As he opened his eyes, all he could see was red, strands of red hair blurred his vision. Slowly, he brushed the hair off his face, letting him see again, and letting the hair fall back over Keahi. She seemed still in her sleep, her breathing still not quite as deep or as healthy as it had been, but she was breathing still. 

Keahi had woken thrice in the night, each time, gasping for breath. Her eyes wide in a wild panic that left him with a small burn on his upper arm from her trying to escape his grasp. Each time he had eventually calmed her down, with some struggle, she had clung to him and cried again and again before finally falling asleep again. He had stayed awake after the first one, watching her fitfully sleep. It wasn’t until after the third time she had woken up and had fallen asleep again that her sleep had been much calmer, and he felt safe to sleep again.

He carefully lifted his arm off her, she shifted slightly, but didn’t wake. As he sat up, her head dropped onto the pillow. He froze again, but she still didn’t wake. He was thankful that she was so deeply asleep. He quickly covered her up again before she had the chance to get cold. Keahi hated the cold more than anything. Getting her to go outside in the winter was damned near impossible and usually had to involve a great deal of begging and that one time he had dragged her outside and shoved her into his car to take her to the others when she refused to join them.

The floor was cold and he grabbed his socks from yesterday and put those on. He was heading downstairs when he heard laughter.   
“Morning.” He said with a yawn, making both Esen and Ila jump, they were just finishing up cleaning the kitchen when he had snuck down the stairs silently.   
“You’re up!” Esen said. “Wasn’t expecting you to be awake for a few more hours at least.”  
“I need to feed the cats.” He said.   
“I’ve already done that, they are fine.” Ila said.   
“Thanks.” He said, running a hand through his hair, his fingers snagged on knots in the shaggy, silver mess. “Keahi is still asleep. Hopefully she’ll sleep a lot longer.” 

“Did she wake up in the night?” Esen asked as Takumi started to make his own breakfast.  
“Three times, I am surprised you didn’t hear her.”   
“I’m a deep sleeper.” Ila said.   
“And I was downstairs.” Esen said. “Ila cheated and stole your bedroom.”   
“You snooze, you lose.” Takumi said.   
“You always take the girls side.”   
“I take no one’s side unless convinced. I would have done the same.” He said, sitting at the kitchen table and digging into his corn flakes. 

 

Keahi woke up in pain and confused out of her mind. She wasn’t in her own bed, the bed had far too many cushions and pillows on it to be her own. And the shirt that she was wearing was most definitely not her own, it was far too large and not at all her colour. Sitting up resulted in pain lancing through her body, and her flopping back down into the pillows with a phumf.  
“Takumi!” She called, her throat still hurt. 

“I’m here.” He crossed the room in an instance, still in his pyjamas. He sat on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Is everything alright?”   
“You were gone, and I may have freaked out a little.” Everything still aches and the mere thought of having to get up and pad through the house to find him terrified her.  
“I was just checking on the cats and the children.”  
“Ila and Esen stayed the night?” Keahi was used to hearing Takumi refer to the others as the children, on the odd occasion she was referred to one as well.   
“Can you blame me for wanting them nearby?” He asked and Keahi shook her head. 

“Are you still tired.”   
“No.” She said with a slight shake of her head. “But getting up seems far too painful. I am way to tense for that. Join me?”   
“Fair enough.” He moved round to the other side of the bed and lay down next to her. He very carefully rested his arms on the back of her shoulders.


End file.
